A pro-life group is crying foul after Facebook removed three of its paid campaign ads from the popular social media platform.
On Thursday, Facebook removed a pro-life ad supporting Tennessee Republican Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn, the Susan B. Anthony List said in a statement. Prior to being pulled by Facebook, the ad had reached an estimated 90,000 voters, the national pro-life group added.
“After Twitter shamefully stifled Marsha Blackburn’s pro-life free speech last year, Sheryl Sandberg promised Facebook would never do the same, even if she personally disagreed with it. That’s proven to be an empty promise,” said SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser.
[Opinion: Facebook’s Honest Ads Act is a way of evading the real issue]
She added, “SBA List has faced repeated censorship over the last few weeks and now our ad supporting Marsha Blackburn has been disapproved, even after more than 90,000 had viewed it. Facebook must immediately stop its censorship of pro-life speech. All the information presented in our ads has been factual, if surprising, to those unwilling to face the reality of pro-abortion extremism. Facebook is censoring the truth and political free speech.”
Blackburn’s campaign announcement video was indeed blocked in October 2017 by Twitter, which hid behind the farcical argument that her pro-life rhetoric was “inflammatory” and that it could “evoke a strong negative reaction.” Last week, SBA List was told something very similar after Facebook removed two additional ads from its platform.
An ad titled “Charlotte” was blocked last week by Facebook from running in Arizona. Another ad, titled “Micah,” which was slated to run in Iowa, was also removed last week by Facebook. The social media giant explained in an email that it doesn’t allow ads “that feature sensational or graphic content.” It’s unclear how Facebook defines the words “graphic” and “sensational.” The social media company did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
You can judge for yourself whether you think the ads, which tell the story of two children who received life-saving medical care after being born prematurely, are too “sensational”:
Why is Facebook so intent on disenfranchising Charlotte & Micah? They deserve to be allowed to tell their stories. But @Facebook is shutting down our ads that share how they survived premature births.
Charlotte ad – banned for being “too graphic” – decide for yourself: pic.twitter.com/DzRPl69phq
— Susan B. Anthony List (@SBAList) October 24, 2018
Here’s the ad telling Micah’s story that Facebook has chosen to censor: pic.twitter.com/A8OLKrT4xf
— Susan B. Anthony List (@SBAList) October 24, 2018
After the ads were removed by Facebook, Dannenfelser urged the company last week to “stop its shameful censorship of the pro-life movement.”
“Charlotte Ryun and Micah Pickering survived their premature births. That’s factual. It’s also factual that pro-abortion politicians across this country support painful late-term abortions, even after 20 weeks, more than halfway through pregnancy,” she added. “Facebook is censoring the truth and political free speech. … The clock is ticking to Election Day, and Facebook is stifling our ability to get our message out about politicians who support brutal late-term abortions.”
If the disappearance of the pro-Blackburn ad in Tennessee was the only example of such a thing happening to the national pro-life group, one could argue Facebook merely acted in error. But the Blackburn video is the third example of an SBA List-sponsored midterm election campaign ad being pulled down by the social media giant. Once is an accident, twice is coincidence, and three times is a trend.
